Jillian saw the triumphant look she threw Lex.She had to make one thing clear.“However, I can’t come back to Armenia with you.I might visit someday.You never know.But right now, I already made a commitment to someone else.”Jillian glanced at Lex.She would choose him any day.She smiled at her grandmother.“You see, I’m getting married in two weeks.”
“Married?”her father asked.
Jillian dragged her eyes away from her grandmother, who looked furious, and focused on her father.“Lex and I, uh, we are—”
“No, sweetheart,” Lex interrupted, interlacing their fingers.“This is where I come in.”
Ricky and Cian laughed.Her father scowled harder.Her grandmother still looked like she wanted to hit someone on the head with her purse.She was clutching it tight.
“Iwould like to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage, sir,” Lex said.
Her brothers converged around them, shaking Lex’s hand.Ricky had the nerve to add, “Thank you for taking her off our hands.”He barely escaped her punch.
Her father and new grandmother didn’t move from their seats or look happy.But then again, Jillian didn’t blame them.Her father was going to hold back his approval until he knew Lex better.He never approved of Cian and Ricky’s wives either.According to him, Elena was too snooty and Ginger too scared of her own shadow.Ginger hadn’t helped matters either because she’d kept Sophia’s existence a secret for nearly three years before she tracked Ricky down and told him he was the father.Jillian wondered if her father’s attitude toward Elena would change now that she was pregnant.He was big on family.
As for her grandmother, she seemed to have prematurely planned Jillian’s entrance into her society.She probably didn’t understand Jillian’s decision.Jillian was perfectly fine with it.She was trading a life that could have been glamorous for a year filled with uncertainty armed with just one thing—her growing feelings for Lex.
~*~
Hours later, Lex tucked Jillian under his chin and stared at the ceiling.Jillian had chosen him.She was at home in his arms instead of packing for Armenia, yet the determined gleam in her grandmother’s eyes stayed with him.Mrs.Petrosian didn’t accept Jillian’s decision gracefully, and he wouldn’t put it past her to try something behind their backs.She would rue that day.
Jillian lifted her chin and studied his face.“What’s wrong?”
Lex ran his knuckles along her cheek, stroking her cheekbones and gently sloping jaw line.He wanted to watch her fall asleep every night and see her face first thing in the morning.
“Your father offered you what you wanted.A chance to go back to performing live, something that meant a lot to you, yet you turned him down.Why?”
She bit her lower lip and made a face.“Being back with my family was more important than the troupe.Sure, I’d probably have gotten the best of the best to ride with me, but it wouldn’t have felt right.We were special because we were a family.”
“So, you won’t miss the thrill of performing live?”
She grinned.“Oh, I’ll definitely miss that.Who doesn’t like adoring fans?”
“You could get adoring fans if you went to Armenia with your grandmother.A whole country fawning over the last Zakarian Princess.”
She gave an unladylike snort.“Did you really buy that?The woman is lonely, and I’m her only relative.She would have said anything to make me listen to her.”
Lex had thought so too, especially after the things she’d said before Jillian and her family joined them.As soon as they’d left San Juan, Lex asked Douglas to check into UAN and Zakarians.Just before they came to bed, Lex had read the preliminary report Douglas had sent.UAN was alive and thriving in Armenia, and they needed a way to connect to the younger generation, just like Mrs.Petrosian had said.
The woman was also right about Zakarians.There were once two Zakarian princes who fought valiantly to free their people.The people considered them heroes and revered them.They would definitely welcome a Zakarian princess.Like Mrs.Petrosian had said, Jillian’s story would have made headlines.But it would have also brought the faceless bluebloods—whoever they were—to Jillian’s door.
That was the one thing Lex found unacceptable.He could share Jillian with her people, circus goers and bikers from hell, and even the annoying Hollywood crowd, but if it put her life in danger, screw them all.Bubble wrap wouldn’t be enough to keep her safe.
“Now you are worrying,” Jillian said, stroking his chin.“What’s going on behind those intelligent eyes, Alexander?”
“I can give you a family.We are many and loud, but they’ll welcome you and love you like one of their own.”
She grinned, turquoise eyes twinkling.“For a second there I thought you meant babies.”
His chest tightened as he imagined her with his child.“I can provide those too if you can settle for one adoring fan.”He swallowed, mouth dry and stomach clenching with nerves.“You’d never have to perform to be loved and adored.”
She sat up, the smile disappearing from her face.“What are you saying?”
Lex followed her, taking her hands.“I’m saying that I’m crazy about you, Jillian Finnegan.I’m saying that you have me.Probably did the moment you looked at me in your clown makeup and smiled.”Her eyes grew luminous.He scrambled off the bed and knelt in front of her.“I’m saying I don’t want a year with you, not if I can have a lifetime.”
Tears filled her eyes, and he hoped they were tears of joy.
“I’m saying,” he added, speaking slowly, “that we tear up that agreement and get married in two weeks for real.”
